Re: have you ever gotten a picture of a MT Lion on trail cameras

I do not spend much time on TBN and have just seen this thread. I was aware from a little research I did a few years ago that some States in the US have the same denial approach as countries in Great Britain, also I noted that the animals are capable of travelling tens of miles in a night - and that they swim.

Previous to farming in Portugal I was in the far North of Scotland where the main enterprise was producing free range eggs, and I hope nobody minds the length of the following description of our encounter with a Mountain Lion in Scotland, but I think the episode needs to be put in perspective, rather than me just say I have seen one. Naturally we have frequently been told that we imagined it all because there are no Mountain Lions or any other big cats in Britain:-

Over the 2000-01 winter we lost a few ducks, which we thought were killed either by a wildcat (seen late in the evening on a night we lost seven) or a pine marten. One of these seven was taken and six others left dead. A bite to the neck was always the cause, not the messy killing of a fox. We had also had another predator that I found extremely hard to accept existed. On the odd occasion I had seen animal tracks in the snow about 4 inches across, possibly more, but difficult to tell in snow if the animal had passed a few hours earlier. I never saw any when it was wet and muddy despite looking, so I was unable to get a positive measurement and layout. At first I dismissed them as probably the way the snow had been blown after a wildcat or marten had passed, but later began to wonder if there was something else about, although I said nothing to anyone. Nobody ever believes you were sober if you mention the possibility of animals that do not normally live in your country. We had also lost several hens in their sheds; the design of the sheds (given in full detail in Chapter 12) was such that the manure from the roosting birds fell through weldmesh and onto the ground below. My assumption of what happened was that the predator squirmed its way under the shed and upset the birds to the extent that they would fly about. Anything unlucky enough to drop a foot through the mesh had its leg pulled off. Sometimes they died from this injury but on other occasions were still alive when let out in the morning, so had to be culled.
Then right at the beginning of May we had a glorious spring day. I was finishing off collecting the eggs (a rare treat for my wife) when I saw something in the rushes behind the house, about 100 yards away. My wife had noticed a roe doe and her very young twins acting rather strangely the previous day, at the same time catching a glimpse of an animal moving close to the boundary, and had mentioned it to me, but she did not see sufficient to know what it was. No mistakes this time though. Lying sunning itself was a “big cat”. We had binoculars and a small astronomical telescope, so got them and my wife and I were able to view it very easily from the house. We knew what we were looking at despite never having seen one in the wild before. It is known in different places as a Cougar, Puma or Mountain Lion, all the same thing so take your pick of the name. Now these cats simply are not native to Britain so, despite my suspicions of the previous winter, we were more than slightly surprised at it lying there. Gun law security being strict, I had my gun cabinet so that it could only be accessed by ladder, and I was unable to put my .243 together and load it without the need to leave the house, go across open ground in view of the animal and back again with the necessary ladder. I hesitated about attempting this, and tried to work out how I could get around the problem, but it was solved for me because after a few minutes the animal stretched, yawned and walked back across our boundary. Neither the neighbour Gordy Nichol nor we had any need of a fence between us, so there were only a few remnants of posts and no physical barrier.
Gordy and his wife had a little son who was prone to wander about, so I informed them. Their two teenage daughters had apparently reported seeing the cat a couple of weeks previously, but their notion of its size had been dismissed by the parents as due to them being startled by it and misjudging - the usual reaction of people who have not seen the animal. The next day one of the other neighbours, Gordy’s sister in fact, telephoned at lunchtime and said she had just seen it crossing a nearby field and it was heading our way. I had had only a short local delivery run that morning so luckily was back home for lunch. I knew I had a few minutes to get ready, so got out the shotgun as it was unlikely I would get a safe rifle shot, and moved into the area with the hen shelters closest to the way it would come in, about 40yards from the house, and waited. My wife watched through the kitchen window. I never saw the cat, but she saw it come out of a ditch, pick up a hen within about fifteen yards of me, and then go back the way it had come. You have to admire something that can be that good a hunter. It appeared that no other hens had seen it either because there was no reaction from any of them. A fox would have rushed in, the other hens would have set up a racket, and hopefully I would have shot the culprit.
We never saw it again, but when I mentioned it to Mike Purcell, a gamekeeper from about 15 miles away, he asked what colour it was. On describing it as greyish to sandy, he said, “Oh, most of the big cats in our area are black.” I subsequently discovered there have been many sightings of big cats in the Highlands, although only one report of an animal that was shot - about ten years previous to our sightings. The local opinion was that, apart from three which allegedly escaped from the home of someone who had them as pets, a change in the law in 1976 had made it difficult for people to retain them without a great deal of expense in security enclosures, so they were merely dumped in a remote area, and presumably some of them bred. If not, there had been more escapees or dumping because the time lag from the introduction of this Act was too long for sightings at this time to be of animals dumped in 1976, or at least they would be very geriatric, because other information I obtained, an article written by a keeper at Glasgow Zoo, is that most of these big cats live to a maximum age of about 15 to 17 years.
I am well aware that many so called experts dismiss these sightings as being in the imagination of those who only think they have seen such a beast, but there appeared to be some sort of official policy to deny that they existed in the Highlands, and I believe other parts of the UK too. I have even seen a TV documentary especially made to show that there were none in Britain. A very wild statement to make because it is impossible to prove such a thing. Whether this is supposed to reassure the general populace, or so as not to affect tourism I do not know. I do know what I, my wife, and neighbours saw. I am familiar with foxes, pine martens, wildcats, domestic cats, dogs, possums, several species of kangaroos, dingoes, wombats, feral goats, roe deer, red deer, otters, mink (the last two occasionally being seen a long way from water) and all farm animals. Looking at this cat through a telescope and binoculars at such close range, we had positive identification. I also have a great deal of respect for the likes of Mike Purcell who spend their lives ever vigilant and watchful, and who are very familiar with all the animals one could find in their part of the world. These people are not likely to mistake a native animal for an exotic one.

Re: have you ever gotten a picture of a MT Lion on trail cameras

I couldn't get pictures, as I was driving a tractor trailer. The location was where the Cogan House exit is on highway 15, 2 miles south of the Steam Valley interchange North of Williamsport, Pa.. It was back around 2005 when they were working on the highway and it was reduced to one lane at the time.

I was loaded heavy, and was traveling north at about 15 to 18mph, when a large tan cat, with a very long tail crossed in front of me, then stopped. I could see it open it's mouth and appeared to 'roar?'. Just then, I saw something come out from under the guard rail to attempt to cross the road. By this time I was right on top of the 2 spotted cubs, and they crawled back under the guard rail as I passed. At that point, I was only 3 feet away from the cubs. It was an amazing sight, that I'll never forget.

Many years ago, I had an all black one cross in front of me on highway 523, near Listonburg, Pa.. And 2 years ago there was a black one spotted several times within several hundred yards of my house, near Markleysburg, Pa. .

Re: have you ever gotten a picture of a MT Lion on trail cameras

The cat in the news article in post #7 was a cat that I saw within about a mile of my place here. After about a dozen reported sightings and another cat pictured in a tree in this area the DNR was forced to recognize they were here. There are other locals here with trail cam pictures that they have not reported. Mostly to the DNR reluctance/refusal to acknowledge sightings. They want you to report sightings, but when you ask about what you saw they take a "ya sure you did" attitude.

I am about due south (across Lake Superior) from the where the poster reported a cat in Two Harbors MN. So cats from this area have to go back around the end of Lake Superior (near Duluth) or across upper Michigan to get that far east.

It would be interesting to see sightings data from southern Canada, and the routes of DNA evidence on cats across that area. Anyone with info ?

Re: have you ever gotten a picture of a MT Lion on trail cameras

OP, several people have claimed to see mountain lions in NY., yet not 1 picture has been produced. The cat found in Conn,. traveled through NY., I don't dispute that. As far as ml in the wild in NY., lets see your cam pic..

Re: have you ever gotten a picture of a MT Lion on trail cameras

Originally Posted by trac

OP, several people have claimed to see mountain lions in NY., yet not 1 picture has been produced. The cat found in Conn,. traveled through NY., I don't dispute that. As far as ml in the wild in NY., lets see your cam pic..

Trail cams ain't everywhere...............That would be a total impossibilty. Take a look on google maps sometime at the area I described, and tell me that a trail cam can be put up to catch every animal that may move in that area(a trail cam only takes pics for about 50 to 60 feet).

As far as what I saw, the mother was less than 20 feet away from me, the cubs were about 2 feet away. There was no mistaking what I saw...........whether anyone wants to believe me or not is their perogative. I couldn't stop in the middle of a 1 lane highway, and crawl into the sleeper to get the company supplied accident camera to take pictures..................although I wish I could have.

Re: have you ever gotten a picture of a MT Lion on trail cameras

Pumas are turning up all over the US, and gov't denial is often founded on avoiding confrontations with hunting groups asking for permission to shoot when not specifically licensed or accounted for by game depts. Cougars in LA and other unexpected places have been all over the news recently, and isn't the trail cam pic with one a few steps behind a deer still going around the 'net? Joggers & cyclists may become targets, and one was attacked/killed out West on a woody college campus a year or three ago ....

Remember that lady from Oz whose trial was made into a movie about dingos snatching her young 'un?? IIRC, earlier this year the toddler's bones were found among those of other prey ... btw: Didn't take long to expose the recently faked child-snatch by an eagle that raised eyebrows/questions....

Re: have you ever gotten a picture of a MT Lion on trail cameras

It really intrigues me that mountain lions are specifically targetted by officialdom as "non existent" despite so many sightings in a given area. Also the number of civilians who claim they do not exist - based purely on the fact that they have not seen one thenmselves. Do you have the same problem in the US with other animals that are seen, but the official line is "They do not live here"?

Re: have you ever gotten a picture of a MT Lion on trail cameras

Yea well folks claim to see them both in Bennington county VT and Berkshire county Mass along with other places thruout Mass and NH. Lots of stuff in Vemont idolizes the Catamount. For a fact I did see one (2 actually) they had captured and housed at the State Wildlife park in Grey Maine when I lived near there. Always worth the trip. Maine IF&W: Maine Wildlife Park/Wildlife